Ocean City Achieves Sustainable Jersey Silver-Level Certification

OCEAN CITY – Sustainable Jersey representatives announced that Ocean City has met the rigorous requirements to achieve Sustainable Jersey certification. Ocean City is one of only 25 New Jersey municipalities that have attained certification at the silver-level in 2016. Ocean City will be honored at the Sustainable Jersey Awards Luncheon Nov. 15, 2016 in Atlantic City.
“We feel blessed in Ocean City to live in such a beautiful place, and the protection of our environment and resources is vitally important,” Ocean City Mayor Jay A. Gillian said. “We’re proud to have achieved Silver-Level Certification and thankful for Sustainable Jersey’s continued mission.”
To become Sustainable Jersey certified at the silver-level, Ocean City submitted documentation to show it had completed a balance of the required sustainability actions, meeting a minimum of 350 action points.  In addition to reaching 350 points, each community had to create a green team and select at least three out of eleven priority action options. Ocean City did five of the 11  priority actions by completing: 1) a fleet inventory, 2) municipal carbon footprint, 3) sustainable land use pledge, 4) natural resource inventory, and 5) prescription drug safety and disposal.
“Sustainable Jersey is incredibly proud of the 74 New Jersey towns that achieved certification this year,” said Donna Drewes, co-director of Sustainable Jersey. “The 198 Sustainable Jersey certified towns demonstrate leadership and are a testament to how much we can accomplish toward the long-term goal of a sustainable New Jersey.”
Certified towns excelled in areas such as improving energy efficiency and health and wellness, reducing waste, sustaining local economies, protecting natural resources and advancing the arts. “Collectively the 440 participating Sustainable Jersey towns are a powerful force in New Jersey,” said Randall Solomon, co-director of Sustainable Jersey.